"Writing Effective Business Rules" moves beyond the fundamental dilemma of system design: defining business rules either in natural language, intelligible but often ambiguous, or program code (or rule engine instructions), unambiguous but unintelligible to stakeholders. Designed to meet the needs of business analysts, this book provides an exhaustive analysis of rule types and a set of syntactic templates from which unambiguous natural language rule statements of each type can be generated. A user guide to the SBVR specification, it explains how to develop an appropriate business vocabulary and generate quality rule statements using the appropriate templates and terms from the vocabulary. The resulting rule statements can be reviewed by business stakeholders for relevance and correctness, providing for a high level of confidence in their successful implementation.
A complete set of standard templates for rule statements and their component syntactic elementsA rigorous approach to rule statement construction to avoid ambiguity and ensure consistencyA clear explanation of the way in which a fact model provides and constrains the rule statement vocabularyA practical reader-friendly user guide to the those parts of the SBVR specification that are relevant to rule authoring

"Data Modeling Essentials, Third Edition" provides expert tutelage for data modelers, business analysts and systems designers at all levels. Beginning with the basics, this book provides a thorough grounding in theory before guiding the reader through the various stages of applied data modeling and database design. Later chapters address advanced subjects, including business rules, data warehousing, enterprise-wide modeling and data management.
The third edition of this popular book retains its distinctive hallmarks of readability and usefulness, but has been given significantly expanded coverage and reorganized for greater reader comprehension. Authored by two leaders in the field, "Data Modeling Essentials, Third Edition" is the ideal reference for professionals and students looking for a real-world perspective.
- Thorough coverage of the fundamentals and relevant theory.
- Recognition and support for the creative side of the process.
- Expanded coverage of applied data modeling includes new chapters on logical and physical database design.
- New material describing a powerful technique for model verification.
- Unique coverage of the practical and human aspects of modeling, such as working with business specialists, managing change, and resolving conflict.
- Extensive online component including course notes and other teaching aids (www.mkp.com).
UML diagrams now available! Visit the companion site for more details.
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